A/N: It has begun, my dear readers! The greatest sports event in this hemisphere is happening as I type these very words! But hey, you didn't come here to hear about basketball, you came to read a fic…right? Here are some thank-yous:

The Broken Bow: Thanks for your review first off. Now to your question: I do think that LSU men can go far in the NCAA tournament. They are in a bracket that I think they can win, but our guards MUST play PERFECT basketball. The women…I really think they can win it. They are that damn good. Oh…about your prize…please have an idea or two when you review, or email me (its listed on my profile).

Anime Ruthless: I may be in the minority, but I think Villanova can make it to the final four. They are going to have to play outstanding to get there, but it's not out of the realm or reason. As far as LSU goes…I'll be happy with the Sweet 16 for the men. I expected them to go to the NIT (National Invitational Tournament for non-sports fans) early on in the year and I'm extremely happy right now. As far as your prize goes, I'll consider both Ideas and probably use them both. Thanks a bunch.

Shyly in the dark: Thanks so much for your review. I think if I got somebody interested in basketball and presented an idea that's fresh, I've accomplished what I set out to do.

Telecoi: Now this may be just a guess, but it appears that you are a big, BIG Ryou fan. Don't worry; he will be there soon enough. Thanks for your review.

Rosegoddess874: Yeah, Yami did come out of the blue, but did you think Kaiba was going to get Serenity THAT easy? Thanks for your review and your opinion.

Snow Weaver: Sometime before you read this, you should have already gotten an email from me. (I think you know what its about). Thanks for your review, and I'm hoping you decide to update something in the near future.

Yay! I'm no longer the only person that has used basketball in a Yu-gi-oh fic. Its called Love and Basketball…I don't know by whom, I forgot the author's name. If you can stand yaoi (which, I can't), you might want to check it out. Also…I'll be changing my pen name soon…to what I'm not sure. I don't know why. Well…here's the next chapter, Enjoy (oh LSU tips off at 8:50 P.M. Central Time, watch or I disconnect your cable! Hahahaha!)

Warning: This chapter contains strong language. So be warned. OK that doesn't make sense, but you get what I'm saying, don't you?

Chapter 15: The Dark Side of Nathan Colby, Part II

Yugi, Yami, Joey, Mako, Bakura, Duke, Malik, Kaiba, and the rest of the team walked into an empty gym. It was a cool October morning; the sun was not yet up.

"What is this nonsense? Practice at six in the morning?" Bakura spat out in his usual unpleasant mood.

"Does anybody know what the heck is going on?" Malik asked, his lavender eyes full of confusion.

"And why da heck is it so hot in here? It feels like a freakin' sauna in here!" Joey put in, wiping beads of sweat from his brow.

"You're all here…that's good."

Nathan walked into the gym, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, Tristan beside him.

"102 to 54…WHAT IN THE BLUE HELL WAS THAT? You boys looked like chickens with their damn heads cut off!"

Yami hung his head in shame, Joey gulped audibly.

"Tristan tells me that you boys had a little too much fun at a party while I was gone. He tells me that someone got in a fight out in the street. Guess what? Not only are we going to run suicides until the world ends, you jokers are staying right here with me until I found out WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAPPENED LAST WEEK! And another thing, that crap that happened at Louisville will NEVER happen again! As of right now, ALL of you are under evaluation, nobody's starting job is safe, nobody's playing time is safe, hell, and nobody's spot on the team is safe! NOW LINE UP!"

"Coach…we have classes to go to. We don't have time for basketball "boot-camp"." Kaiba put in, his arms folded across his chest.

"Nobody's holding a damn gun to your head…now get in line or get the fuck out."

Kaiba, with all the self-control he could muster, joined his teammates in running.

Nathan watched his team run, their speed surprising him somewhat. After making note of this team speed, his mind thought back on happenings earlier that morning.

Flashback:
University Bank

Nathan walked over to the bank teller to get his deposit out. He wasn't making much money these days, but had saved every penny he could while at Kansas. After counting his withdrawal, he exited the bank and came across two familiar faces. One of them was one of his bosses, Ishizu. The other looked a lot like Malik, except that his hair was a bit longer and his face had this chiseled look to it, almost evil in a way…

"Ahh…our great coach, Nathan Colby! Nice game against Louisville wouldn't you say?" Marik laughed as he finished, and was quickly chastised by his sister.

"Brother, maybe we should leave…"

"Not yet, Ishizu. I want to hear how he plans to fare against Louisiana State." Marik glared haughtily at the raven-haired man in front of him, his demeanor almost daring him to fight him. "I bet the Athletic Director that we would stay within 30 points of them. How do you plan on doing that, eh?"

Ishizu looked from her brother to Nathan, fearing a bitter confrontation was only seconds away.

But to her surprise, her brother's comments didn't seem to faze Nathan. Even more to her surprise, Nathan smiled.

"My plan, Mister Ishtar…is to start you at point guard and let you earn the money."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, sir…Well, I better get going…I an early practice to get to, plus some game film to watch."

Malik grabbed him by the arm to stop him, and Ishizu noted that the smile that was on Nathan's face had evaporated in a nanosecond.

"I think that you have the right Ishtar to get the job done…don't you?" Marik said, an eerie smile creeping onto his lips.

"I think you better get your goddamn hand off me before I rip it off." Nathan's words were cold, deliberate, and full of malice.

Ishizu looked at them both, worried that a fight was sure to break out now.

Marik realized that the coach meant business, and let go of him quickly. "Sorry to unnerve you so…I was just giving a friendly suggestion."

Lavender eyes met dark green, and Nathan spoke again.

"Right…now excuse me, as I said earlier I have a lot of work to do."

With that, Nathan got into his blue mustang, and headed for his office.

High-class asshole…

Ra-damned fool…

End of Flashback...

Now Back in the Present:

Nathan was pulling each of his players to the side, one by one. He interviewed them with the flair of any professional interrogator.

"Devlin…get over here!"

Devlin came over from the defensive drills that were taking place, and another person took his spot.

"So Duke…something you want to tell me about what happened?" Nathan's voice was calm…almost too calm.

Duke breathed heavily, sweat seemingly dripping out of every pore of his body. "No, sir."

"You don't know anything about what happened either?"

Duke shook his head.

"Alright…fall back in. JOEY! Get over here!" After Nathan's call, Joey arrived quickly, almost slipping on the wooden floor.

"Yeah, coach?"

"Well, I guess you don't know about what happened at this particular party either, do you?" Yami shot a quick, nervous glance in Joey's direction.

"ANSWER ME!" Joey, who was looking over at Yami, jerked his head up quickly.

"Yeah…I know what happened."

"Now, are you gonna tell me what happened, or am I going to have to keep running you and the rest of these boys ragged?"

Joey exhaled deeply. He didn't want to rat anyone out…but he didn't want to practice in this oven of a gym for the rest of the day either.

"Well…coach, it was like dis…

Flashback

Joey's Birthday Party…

"Kaiba?"

Serenity stared up into Kaiba's dark blue eyes, her face full of surprise.

"What are you doing out here?" Serenity and Yami both stood up, waiting for Kaiba to speak. He didn't say a word.

"Kaiba…is everything O.K.?" Kaiba answered by hitting Yami in the jaw with a left hook.

"You pompous, overbearing windbag! I'll kill you!" Kaiba got on top of Yami, and began to beat on the shorter boy with a vengeance. Somehow, Yami managed to roll him over and was now in control of things.

"What in Ra's name are you doing? What is this all about?" Yami felt Kaiba's grip around his throat.

"It's about you! Everything that I work so hard to obtain, you're there to take it from me! Basketball…Duel Monsters…and now the woman I care about? No fucking way…you'll die before you lay another hand on her!" The two rivals continued to brawl, Serenity pleading for them to stop.

"What da heck? What's goin on out here?" Joey, Duke, and Yugi heard the commotion, and had come out to break up the fight.

"C'mon Yami, enough is enough!" Yugi pulled desperately on his twin brother, trying to pry him and Kaiba apart.

"Out of the way…I'm going to end this now!"

"Not if I get to you first, you bastard!" Kaiba was being restrained by Duke, who was yelling a stunning array of curses and pleas for Kaiba to stop fighting. Suddenly Mai came onto the scene, and decided to help.

"Kaiba, stop it! This is pointless…you can't prove love this way!" Mai was tugging on his elbow, with Duke pulling at Kaiba by the waist.

"You fools let go of me…NOW!"

"Not until you calm down, this isn't the time or the place for a fight."

"I SAID LET GO!" With that, Kaiba began throwing his elbows. One of them connected with Mai…right in the temple.

Kaiba stopped. Yami stopped. Everyone fell silent as Mai hit the concrete unconscious.

One of the backup players, Justin, leaned over her body to check the injury.

"Why is everybody standing' around? Call a damn doctor!"

At the hospital…

Everyone had rushed into the hospital lobby, all concerned for the well being of Mai Valentine. Malik and Bakura, who were at the dorm studying, had been called and were on their way. Everyone else was there, and tensions were high.

Kaiba sat by himself, his guilt weighing him down like a boulder.

Well…this wasn't supposed to happen. Mai's sitting in that hospital room with a concussion, Serenity hasn't spoken to me since I fought that moron Yami, and now I'm sure the mutt is pissed off…

Indeed, the "mutt" was rather upset. And before he went in to see his girlfriend, he let Seto Kaiba know exactly how he felt.

"Joey…maybe we should talk about this after everybody is calm and cool." Yugi said, trying to restrain his best friend.

"There he is! You no good, woman hitting, filthy swine!" Joey grabbed Kaiba by the shirt and flung him against the wall.

"I don't ever wanna see you near my sista again, you got dat moneybags?" Kaiba merely pushed Joey away from him, back into Yugi's grip.

"Get away from me, Wheeler…I don't have time for this discussion right now."

"Well I do you son-of-a-bitch! You damn near killed Mai!"

"I know Joey! I'm SORRY! WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY?"

Kaiba's tone was angry and full of frustration, to a certain point pleading.

Joey just glared at him, so full of anger.

End of Flashback.

Back in the present…

"….and dat's how it ended." Joey had told him everything that had gone on that night, and stood waiting for his coach to pass judgment.

"Is that all true, Joey?"

"Every iota…"

"Alright…HEY! You guys head on out, I'll see you at six this evening."

The team looked over at him perplexed. It was as if his attitude had done a 180 in less than five minutes.

"Well…what are you waiting for…get your asses out of here and get on to class!"

The building cleared in a minute flat.

Nathan, all alone in the building now, sat down on the bench. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and glanced over it a moment. His concern wasn't with LSU. His concern wasn't even with his team's chemistry, which he knew was horrible at the moment. It was a monster, heading in his team's direction. A monster from the south end of New York State…

Mighty Titans Sagat scores 42 as Jump City rolls over Alabama, 98-76, Gain Top 25 ranking for first time in school history.

We got a long…long way to go.

Will Kaiba and Yami put their differences behind them? How will Domino City fare against LSU? And what has little Yugi so nervous? Find out next time!

Well boys and girls, I gotta get ready to cheer for my LSU Tigers. Also, if anyone who reviews here actually plays the Trading Card Game of Yugioh, I would appreciate it if you would help me out with this fic that I'm writing. Take care, and have a good weekend!

BigLos…out